Memory

News about memory, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 7, 2015

Study in journal Neuron finds brain's absorption of new information or memories can be observed within individual neurons. MORE

Jun. 11, 2015

New research indicates that the association between memory loss and statin use may be an illusion. MORE

May. 25, 2015

Prof T M Luhrmann Op-Ed article examines impact that significant historic and religious places have on people who visit them; notes that many people visiting war memorials on Memorial Day will be affected by collective feelings they evoke; holds that deepest evocation of memories, often thought of of private, often come from outer world. MORE

May. 15, 2015

Jim Dwyer About New York column relates that two people who witnessed police shoot hammer-attack suspect David Baril gave mistaken accounts of incident; says there is no evidence either witness was being malicious or deliberately false; points out studies indicate it is common for errors to occur in memories of traumatic events. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Science Q&A answers questions about human ability to remember colors over period of time, or even from location to location. MORE

Mar. 17, 2015

Study published in journal Nature Neuroscience finds that when certain memories are continually reinforced, other memories tend to weaken. MORE

Mar. 3, 2015

Research shows that bees can suffer lapses of memory, sometimes confusing one flower for another, just as humans can. MORE

Mar. 1, 2015

Feb. 22, 2015

Teddy Wayne Future Tense column holds that photographs can distort or even push out one's actual memory of an event; notes 2014 study in journal Psychological Science in which participants remembered photographs they had taken, but not details about objects they had photographed. MORE

Feb. 9, 2015

Jan. 27, 2015

New York Times readers submit mnemonic phrases for remembering order of planets in solar system, should scientists decide to include dwarf planets Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake. MORE

Jan. 22, 2015

Study published in journal Nature finds human memory stores seemingly trivial sounds, sights and other observations, to be restored if they become useful later in life; suggests that wave of emotion can make old memories newly relevant. MORE

Dec. 2, 2014

Op-Ed article by psychology Profs Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons examines overconfidence in memory and the surprisingly serious problems it presents; notes issue is particularly significant in the judicial system, where distorted eyewitness memories can lead to false incarcerations or even executions; cites evidence that humans regularly tend to express strong confidence in false memories. MORE

Nov. 28, 2014

Research published in journal Science finds societies collectively forget memories according to same formula as individuals do; report is first to measure forgetfulness over 40-year period, testing Americans' ability to remember names of past presidents; study shows that culture imitates biology, even though two systems work in vastly different ways. MORE

Nov. 18, 2014

Crowd of 6,000 gathers in Mumbai, India, to witness young Jain monk Munishri Ajitchandrasagarji memorize 500 items over six hours and recite them from memory; Munishri's ability to memorize such large amounts is unique even among Jain monks and his exhibition is part of campaign to encourage schoolchildren to use meditation to build brainpower. MORE

Oct. 27, 2014

Study published in journal Nature Neuroscience finds that subjects who drank mixture high in antioxidants called cocoa flavanols for three months performed better on memory test than people who drank low-flavanol mixture; results show antioxidants in chocolate appear to improve some memory skills that people lose with age. MORE

Aug. 28, 2014

Research published in journal Nature suggests that memories and feelings associated with them are not permanently connected; using a technique in which light is used to switch neurons on and off, neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology appear to have unlocked some secrets about how the brain attaches emotions to memories and how emotions can be adjusted. MORE

Jul. 22, 2014

Study in journal Science reports discovery of gene, called DAF-2c, that facilitates organism's ability to associate two events that usually occur together. MORE

Jul. 9, 2014

Defense Department announces $40 million investment in what has become the fastest-moving branch of neuroscience: direct brain recording; aim is to develop new treatments for traumatic brain injury, signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; scientists have found they can sharpen some types of memory loss caused by such wounds by directly recording and stimulating circuits deep in the brain. MORE

Jun. 24, 2014

Dr Peter N Steinmetz study in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supports theory that individual memories are stored across many neurons in hippocampus region of brain, rather than in single neurons. MORE

May. 19, 2014

When the world’s best “memory athletes” meet in competition, they quickly build mental “palaces” of images, and just as quickly tear them down. MORE

May. 13, 2014

Katherine Akers study in journal Science suggests that inability of adults to recall experiences from childhood may be linked to creation of new neurons in brain that drive the loss of early memories. MORE

Jan. 27, 2014

It’s not so much that the mental faculties of older people are rapidly declining, it’s that their databases are fuller, a new study suggests. MORE

Jan. 12, 2014

Gray Matter column by author Claudia Hammond examines research that has tried to shed light on people's memories of news events; notes that one of the major factors in whether one remembers news events is whether or not one reads newspapers. MORE

Sep. 24, 2013

Clive Thompson, a science and technology writer, argues that technology is making us more intelligent and creating an ambient awareness of the people around us. MORE

Sep. 10, 2013

Cognitive scientist George A Miller's theory, introduced in 1956 paper, that the brain can only hold seven pieces of information in short-term memory has been refined according to several factors. MORE

Sep. 10, 2013

Research suggests that as a person ages, acting and other activities that require cognitive skills can improve these skills in other areas of life. MORE

Sep. 1, 2013

Aug. 4, 2013

We might not be far away from a day when scientists can use computer-manipulation of the mind for a host of different things. MORE

Aug. 4, 2013

Ben Dolnick Lives essay recounts how his endless bragging that movie star Olivia Wilde had a crush on him when they were kids has led him to doubt veracity of his memory; notes, as a fiction writer, his stories and memories can often become confused. MORE

Jul. 9, 2013

Nostalgia, long considered a psychological disorder, is now recognized as a meaningful way to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety and make idea of death less frightening. MORE

Jul. 2, 2013

Study in journal Nature Neuroscience reports that scientists were able to reduce relapse drinking in rats who had been binging on alcohol by administering drug that disrupts sensory memories linked to past drinking. MORE

Jun. 16, 2013

Many of the world's top golfers have an ability to remember shots from years before; because golfers use visualization techniques, imagining their shots before they occur, they file the shots away, as if in a computer, and access them later in the same tournament or at future competitions. MORE

Jun. 13, 2013

Kit Eaton App Smart column; Android and Apple apps allow you to play games to help improve your memory and brain plasticity, and track your performance. MORE

May. 21, 2013

Interview with Brenda Milner, neuropsychologist whose observations of amnesia patient in 1950s showed how memory is rooted in specific areas of brain; she discusses her earlier work and experiences with patient known as HM. MORE

May. 19, 2013

Op-Ed article by Stephanie Coontz describes way in which nostalgia can distort understanding of the world in dangerous ways, and highlights way in which memories need to be cross-examined. MORE

Apr. 30, 2013

Neuroscientists May-Britt and Edvard I Moser are exploring the way the brain records and remembers movement in space, which they speculate may be basis of all memory. MORE

Jan. 28, 2013

Report in journal Nature Neuroscience suggests that structural brain changes occurring naturally over time interfere with sleep quality, which in turn blunts ability to store memories for long term; findings suggest that one way to slow memory decline in aging adults is to improve sleep. MORE

Jan. 22, 2013

Dr Joe Z Tsien study in journal Scientific Reports shows that people have difficulty forming new long-term memories as they age, not because of trouble absorbing new information, but because brain is full of old ones that are hard to erase. MORE

Oct. 23, 2012

Study in journal Neuron shows that the brain discards unwanted memories either by blocking them out or recalling a substitute memory. MORE

Aug. 21, 2012

Doreen Carvajal essay describes living in a former medieval town in southern Spain while trying to trace the history of her family, Sephardic Jews who left the county during the Inquisition; Carvajal discusses the theory of epigenetics, or inherited memories--the possibility that one's genes can remember skills learned and hardships suffered by earlier generations. MORE

Aug. 5, 2012

Op-Ed article by psychology Prof Daniel M Wegner attempts to dispel fears that an increasing reliance on the Internet as a repository of facts will lead to an impoverishment of the human mind; observes that people have always relied on external sources to expand their capacity to remember. MORE

Jul. 17, 2012

Five studies presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver provide striking evidence that changes in an older person's gait appear to be an early indicator of cognitive impairment, including Alzheimer's disease. MORE

Apr. 22, 2012

Dan Hurley article examines new memory game based on so-called N-back tests that has revived the notion that people can work their way to a higher intelligence quotient. MORE

Apr. 16, 2012

Series of papers published online in journal Nature Genetics synthesizes imaging research conducted by more than 200 scientists in order to identify genes that play a role in intelligence and memory; effort is groundbreaking in its use of social networking to resolve a problem that has long bedeviled individual research efforts. MORE

Mar. 24, 2012

Alina Tugend Shortcuts column notes that several studies have provided a strong psychological and physiological basis for why human beings tend to remember negative life events more strongly than positive ones; holds that the phenomenon exerts an influence on human decision making, including decisions related to money. MORE

Mar. 8, 2012

Many seniors are exploring second careers and enrolling in classes, in part motivated by widespread reports that exercising the brain may preserve it, forestalling mental decline, loss of memory, and maybe even Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia; experts say such activities are clinically unproven but likely to have positive effects. MORE

Mar. 6, 2012

Interview with Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist Eric R Kandel, whose work has focused on the biology of memory. MORE

Feb. 9, 2012

University of California, Los Angeles, researchers conduct experiment in which they are the first to improve memory by applying direct electrical stimulation to a key area of the brain as it learns its way around a new environment; results of the study are published in The New England Journal of Medicine. MORE